Access to Research is Every Student’s Right

The Right to Research Coalition tries to shed light on the problem that students sometimes can’t access essential research vital for their own works. This mostly due to the fact that, even though students — through taxes and tuition — underwrite a vast portion of research, they’re denied access to the results unless they also pay often very expensive subscription fees.

In line with what we believe at United Academics, the right to Research coalition argues that the market for academic journals is unlike any other:

The product, journal articles, is produced by researchers, then given to publishers for free in exchange for being published. After coordinating the peer review process, copy editing, and bundling articles together, publishers charge our campus libraries often exorbitant fees for access, though universities contribute significantly to the creation of articles.

United Academics believes that the ones that paid for the research should also have to right to access that same research. Especially as is strikingly mentioned by ‘the right to research coalition':

considering that when these resources are publicly available they can have a positive impact for students, patients, doctors, researchers, small businesses, those in developing countries, and everyone else who uses academic research.

To achieve this goal United Academics set up an online knowledge platform where academics can connect, publish, and discuss academic works. We encourage UA members to share knowledge and make it publicly available. We let authors keep their copyrights. We promote ‘Open Access’ publishing. We let the academic world decide on the quality of academic works. We rank members to distinguish excellence from average. We provide a solution for the full spectrum of academic research. We spread a message: connect science and society.

Hopefully we can find some way to work together with ‘the right to research coalition’ to achieve these mutual goals.

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As both a parent and an ecodatur, I am strong advocate of young children learning through play. I have seen the benefits of play in the classroom first-hand with my own daughter and with the 3-4 year olds whom I teach. It is troubling to learn that although research clearly supports the need for young children to learn actively through play, more and more schools are eliminating play and, in some cases recess, from the lives of Kindergarteners. Why? If study after study clearly shows the benefits of play in the lives of young learners how do we account for the trend towards curtailing and/or eliminating play from schools? Who is making the decision to cut play in favor of earlier testing? More importantly, why are we letting them make this change?I teach three and four year olds at a preschool in NYC. The children are in school for three hours, five days a week. Everyday, they have approximately half an hour of outdoor play, weather permitting. In inclement weather they play in an indoor gym. In addition, they have approximately 45 minutes of Free Choice/Play. We focus on the social and emotional development of our students. We believe in the importance of learning by constructing knowledge through hands-on experiences. Further, we recognize that while children can certainly memorize information, the fact that they do so does not mean they have actually learned and processed it.I think the real issue regarding the importance of play in the classroom is one of advocacy. As teachers, we are on the front lines. We know what is happening. We need to speak up. First, we need to ensure that parents are fully informed of the facts and the research regarding the importance of play in their children’s school lives. Also, we need to show them how it is being whittled away from their children’s daily schedule. Second, we need to join forces with parents and vigorously advocate for keeping play in the classrooms of young children. It is incumbent upon ecodaturs to speak out on behalf of their students. We know that cutting play from the schedule is not in young children’s best interests. Accordingly, we cannot stand by and just let this happen just because some policy makers are convinced they know what is best, when clearly they do not. The young children of today are the future leaders of tomorrow. We owe it to the children and to ourselves to provide them with a developmentally appropriate education. Our goal should be to create life-long learners. One way to do this is to start the children out on the right foot. The clarion call should be, “Let young children learn through play!”